Crucial need to improve mental health research and training for human rights advocates

Rohini Bagrodia, Sarah Knuckeyb, Margaret L Satterthwaite, Ria Singh Sawhney, Adam D Brown

There is an urgent need to better understand the mental health risks faced by human rights advocates and to increase the availability of tailored mental health resources. Thousands of human rights groups around the world play a crucial role in promoting rights by investigating violations and advocating for reform, accountability, and justice. Yet advocates might be at risk of adverse mental health effects from direct or indirect trauma exposure, such as witnessing violations, examining physical evidence, and interviewing traumatised survivors.

How to Avoid Activist Burnout, Lemonade (October 2020)

“Trauma and Self Care,” Manual on human rights monitoring, Chapter 12, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations (2011)

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Echoes of the Sounds of the Conch, Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights (2015)

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Crucial need to improve mental health research and training for human rights advocates

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